Academic development (AD) is increasingly being oriented towards an integrated approach to academic practice (AP), given arguments for the importance of integrating research, learning, and teaching. Given the complex and evolving character of AD as a profession, it is important to understand the conceptions of AD held by academic developers, who can play a key role in supporting conditions for such integration. This comparative case study explores conceptions of AD and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) held by academic developers at two universities in Hong Kong and Singapore, and examines the extent to which these conceptions support an integrated AP. The findings show that not all conceptions recognise the importance of integration; moreover, though in both cases aspects of integration come to the fore, there are gaps that militate against a fuller understanding of integrating teaching and research. The study has implications for future AD practice and raises questions about using SoTL as a means of fostering teaching and research integration. Copyright ©Routledge.

Purpose: Learning to do research has been understudied in the context of professional development in postgraduate programs. This exploratory study investigated the agency and experiences of five Chinese students who learned to design their research project in a Master of Education program at an English-medium university in Hong Kong SAR. Design/Approach/Methods: We obtained the data from semi-structured interviews and documents to establish data triangulation. Findings: The findings revealed that (1) the students' agency in research design and proposal writing was associated with their personal/professional backgrounds, (2) their English proficiency affected their agency in the proposal writing, (3) the supervisors' feedback would stimulate students' agency in changing/refining their research design, and (4) ineffective supervision and learning resources would impede students' achievement of agency on their way to creating a robust research design. Originality/Value: This study adds empirical evidence to the field of research training through the lens of learner agency. It demonstrates the applicability of using the ecological framework of agency in theoretically interpreting the contextual facilitators and constraints in making postgraduate students active agents. Copyright ©Sage Publications Ltd.

During 1980, many Western countries launched public administration reforms. These reform waves also blew over to many Asian countries. With the advent of globalization and the rise of knowledge-based society, education and innovation are regarded as the driving forces behind social and economic growth and development. To enhance the national capacity, education reforms have also become common agendas among nation states since the 1980s. This paper aims at critically reviewing and comparing major policies and strategies of the higher education reform adopted by the respective government in Greater China, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and Singapore. The key research questions are why these countries attempted to reform their higher education and if these countries achieve the desired results and comply with good governance. In this paper, four areas, "Rule of Law," "Transparency," "Effectiveness," and "Accountability" are evaluated to examine how these selected cases' governance in higher education have been implemented in the past 30 years. Copyright ©International Dialogues on Education.

In the existing literature of knowledge exchange (KE) and higher education, there is limited but emerging cluster of research which undertakes a comprehensive analysis of various types of higher education institutions and patterns of KE engagement. Employing the empirical example of Hong Kong, this paper examines the interconnections between institutional types and patterns of knowledge exchange (KE) activities in the context of a global city. It found that during the short history of KE policies and activities, all public universities in Hong Kong have been building their capacities for this new intellectual premise in the last decade. Meanwhile, disciplinary comprehensiveness and research/education intensity of the universities affect their institutional responses to the global trend of KE. The typology of higher education institutions suggested by this paper puts forward a perspective to further understand the institutional patterns of KE in the twenty-first century. Copyright ©Taylor & Francis.

Higher education vocational institutions train professional applied talents and accounting study is one of those vocational studies. A survey was conducted in Hong Kong and views collected from the responding practitioners on whether they agreed with the inclusion of an accountant's involvement in ethics education could benefit accounting students, meanwhile, their views on additional ethics elements required for our current ethics education. We found that a majority (82.3%) of total respondents (N = 164) answered positively that the inclusion of an accountant's involvement in ethics education could benefit students. In addition, age and gender do make a difference in their answers while their working location do not affect much of their answers. Practitioners voiced out that practical work experience, for example, internship is more important than knowledge learnt. The views from the responding vocational practitioners reveal that boarder ethics elements of accounting education are expected to be included in our current curriculum. Copyright ©KKG Publications.

This paper begins with a question: can concepts generated in the Chinese context in the sociocultural relations of the periphery contribute to the development of the social sciences in the field of Health and Physical Education (HPE) that have their roots in the metropole? Setting the scene in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), a postcolonial city reverted to the rule of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, this paper aims to develop a critical sociology of HPE by having a dialogue among Continental philosophies (e.g., Bourdieu) and Chinese philosophies around embodiment concepts. Although HKSAR is a complex meeting point of Eastern and Western ideologies, the current HPE field tends to focus on Western and 'scientific' ways of knowing, such as the measurement of health and physical fitness, and often at the expense of sociocultural perspectives, social justice and diversity and inclusion in HPE. In other words, the (post) positivistic research paradigm underpins the HPE field. This paper argues that in order to reap the benefits of a more holistic health education for academics and students in HPE, it is vital to de-imperialise the positivistic ways of teaching and being in HPE. In doing so, this paper creates a space for Bourdieu's habitus to meet Chinese perspectives on embodiment to engage in a dialogue for knowledge production that extends the current knowledge base in HPE. Copyright ©Routledge.

Early Childhood Education is important in developing ethical, intellectual, physical, social, and aesthetic aspects of children together with cognitive skills. Parents play an important role in their children's early life and provide a role model. Additionally, holistic education seeks to incorporate principles of wholeness, interconnectedness and spirituality. This study examined how well parental perceptions of kindergartens (KG) aligned with goals of Holistic Early Childhood Education (HECE) in Hong Kong. Written survey responses were received from 1383 parents and 165 teachers, including principals from 22 kindergartens across three Districts in Hong Kong. The findings of the study indicated that parents' and teachers' perceptions of kindergartens aligned with HECE policy in HK for young children's development and practice in the kindergarten programs. These findings clearly indicate a cohesion between parents' and teachers' concern and official Hong Kong education documents regarding holistic development of young children in kindergartens in Hong Kong. Copyright ©International Society for Educational Planning.

This paper reports a case study of the manifestation of the teaching-research nexus in a research-active professor's classroom teaching of a research methods course targeting a cohort of Master of Education (MEd) students in early childhood education (ECE). The study was conducted at a research-intensive English-medium university in Hong Kong where excellence in both teaching and research is emphasized. Data were gathered through classroom observation and interviews with the focal participant. Data analyses showed that in teaching the research methods course the focal professor aimed to train the students to become critical 'consumers' and novice 'producers' of research through a 'PBL-triple'--problem-based, practice-based, and project-based--approach, and his identity as a prolific researcher also influenced his class teaching. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a new perspective on research-teaching relationships from the classroom. Copyright ©Springer.

In the contexts of population aging and English as a second language (ESL) proficiency decline in Hong Kong, a 12 weeks program that matched 15 retired citizens with 30 secondary school children who wanted to practice English outside the classroom was established. Using proficiency tests, open-ended questions, and Likert scales, this study examined the program value in terms of participants’ program experiences and performances. Results indicated that intergenerational contacts through games, activities, mutual understanding, and friendships appeared to be conducive to children’s ESL learning and relevant to retirees’ post-retirement development. Ideas on exploring ways to increase more available linguistic practice encounters while promoting active aging, and an insight on responding to intergenerational segregation are considered. Copyright ©Routledge.